Hundreds of rebel fighters in Liberia converged on the central town of Gbarnga last Thursday to hand over their guns to United Nations peacekeepers as the country began a relaunched disarmament scheme. Clutching AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, fighters from the rebel group LURD (Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy), assembled at a disarmament site at a farm owned by exiled former President Charles Taylor.